


Kiss Goodnight

by AmbiiUmm69



Category: Alex Rider (TV 2020), Alex Rider - Anthony Horowitz
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sharing a Bed, Slow Burn, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-17 20:15:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29106213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmbiiUmm69/pseuds/AmbiiUmm69
Summary: Alex and Tom had been friends since they could both remember. But since the events of Point Blanc it feels like there might be something else in their relationship. If only they weren't both utterly oblivious they might get somewhere...
Relationships: Alex Rider & Jack Starbright, Tom Harris & Alex Rider, Tom Harris/Alex Rider
Comments: 10
Kudos: 23





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time actually posting my fics online, so if there are any places where I could improve, please tell me! I hope you all enjoy😊

Tom and Alex. Alex and Tom. They had been best friends for basically forever. Sometimes Jack joked that they were attached at the hip. It wasn’t quite true, they had other friends, but sometimes Tom wished it was. Just him and Alex, together forever. Doesn’t sound that bad.

  
Tom broke out of his daydream. “What were you thinking about this time mate? New idea for a film?” asked Alex, looking up from his homework with a smirk. “Oh nothing, just thinking about how _annoying_ you can be,” retorted Tom, throwing his maths book at him. Alex dodged, and looked over at Tom with an evil look in his eyes. “So that’s how you want to play it, is that right?” Those words weren’t so much a question as a declaration of war. This was not going to be a fight that Tom could win. Not under normal circumstances anyway...

  
“Hey man! Broken arm, remember? You’re meant to be sympathetic to me!” Tom yelped while Alex climbed over the pile of dirty clothes and other crap that he had strewn all over his room. “Oh sure, and not get revenge for that book? You'll be wanting me to wash your dirty clothes for you next.” Alex was past the mess now, and Tom could see that his pleas for mercy weren’t going to be very effective. So, knowing that the only way to get out of this one was the protection of something a bit more substantial, he jumped off the bed and made a break for the door.

  
“Oh no you don't!” Alex yelled, and dived after him. Instead of the graceful capture that he had evidently been going for, this only caused them both to fall to the floor in a heap, Alex clinging onto Tom's waist for dear life. “Hey, guys, guys, aren’t you both meant to be studying? And what are you doing Alex?” It was Jack. Perfect. “He attacked me! For no reason!” Tom exclaimed, while shooting Alex a smirk that Jack didn’t seem to spot. “Well, stop it. I’m trying to watch the Kardashians and it’s just getting good. Keep it down or I’m going to kick Tom out of here.” This didn’t appeal to Tom or Alex, so Alex released Tom and walked back to his desk.

  
“That’s not fair. You knew that she would take your side,” Alex complained. Picking his maths book back up from where he had thrown it, Tom smiled. “That’s what you get for attacking an invalid in a cast!” Huffing, Alex went back to the near-incomprehensible notes that he had taken. Once he was sure that Alex couldn’t see him, Tom let a huge smile move across his face. Oh, to be able to get Alex Rider to tackle him across a bed every day.

~~~~~~~~~

  
Alex waved at Tom as he left his house, a grin on his face. It had been a few weeks since the ordeal they both had had with Point Blanc, and the only thing that still felt normal for Alex was Tom. Stupid, silly, adorable Tom. Alex sighed. “What’s wrong? Are your exams really getting to you that much?” Jack appeared behind Alex just in time to hear.

  
“No! I’m just ... thinking,” deflected Alex. Jack frowned at him, obviously not believing him. But she shrugged and walked back to her reality tv. Alex wished that he could explain to her what he was thinking about, but he wasn’t entirely sure how.

  
Alex had known he was bi for so long that he didn’t really think about it anymore. Girls were hot (especially Ayisha), guys were hot (especially James), so that wasn’t the problem. The problem was the fact of Tom. They had been friends since Alex could remember, and what he definitely _didn’t_ remember was this all-encompassing crush.

  
Obviously they had experimented on each other a bit (who hadn't?) but that didn’t mean anything. Alex knew that Tom was bi too, but that didn’t really mean anything either. And Alex had always recognised that Tom was attractive (in a “crazy film-director" kind of way), but that was just his eyes working.

  
So why couldn’t he get him out of his head? Maybe it was the shared traumatic experience. That would bond people in a new way, right? “Hey Jack?” Alex said suddenly, aware that he had just brushed her off a few seconds before. “Would you mind if I watched some tv? With you?” Looking surprised, Jack moved a little up the couch. “Sure! Since when did you like Keeping Up with the Kardashians anyway?” Shrugging, Alex flopped down next to her. “Since now I suppose.” 

  
“Well, you had better not start making this a habit. The only way I can seem to get rid of you is by watching this!” Jack joked, poking Alex playfully in the shoulder. “Don’t get used to it. I guess I just wanted to spend some time with you. With all of my going away to Point Blanc I feel like we haven’t seen each other in ages,” Alex admitted.

  
“Well, I hope you like watching about Kim Kardashian's divorce then. But since I doubt you do; do you want to do something this weekend? Maybe go for a pizza and bring Tom along?” With the mention of Tom Jack poked Alex in the shoulder again, seeing the blush creep up his face. “Yeah! That sounds great!” panicked Alex. With that last exclamation he rushed back towards his bedroom, feeling a hot flush covering his face.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is here! Once again, if there's any mistakes I missed please tell me!

Tom walked up to the front door of Alex's house. He had agreed to come with Jack and Alex to the pizza place down the street, and wanted to see if he could persuade Jack to let him stay over for the night. The midterm exams were coming up, and he really needed a quiet place to study, away from the noisy recorder playing of his little sister.

Alex answered the door when he knocked. “Hey mate! I didn’t realise you were going to come over.” Alex looked sleepy, like he had just woken up from a nap. Probably had. Apparently head injuries needed lots of sleep to recover from.

Tom looked away from where he had been staring at Alex's hair. “Yeah, I hadn’t really planned on it either, but my sister's being a pain. Mind if I come in? I was hoping I could beg a room from Jack to stay in until the exams are over.” Nodding knowingly, Alex stepped out of the doorway to let him pass by.

As Tom walked in, he brushed past Alex, hand just touching Alex's. A shiver passed up his spine. Not now, now was not the time for this. Hopeless crushes were for when Alex wasn’t there to witness them. “Hi Jack! I was wondering if I could ask you something,” he shouted, not knowing where in the house she was.

“No need to yell Tom, I’m only over here.” Jack walked out of the living room, only a few steps over from where Tom was. Looking embarrassed, Tom lowered his voice. “Oh, sorry. I was wondering if I could stay over here a bit? Just ‘till the exams are over. My sister's loud and I can barely hear myself think.” 

With an amused look on her face, Jack seemed to contemplate the question. “Well, you can. But only if you don’t mind sleeping in Alex's god forsaken room,” - with that she glared at Alex, who was still standing in the hallway - “because we don't have anywhere else for you to sleep. Unless you want to sleep in Ian's room.” She said the last part with a grimace, as though she couldn’t imagine anyone ever wanting to sleep there.

“I’ll sleep in Alex's room!” Tom said, perhaps a touch too loud, and a touch too fast. “I mean, I’ll sleep in Alex's room. If you don’t mind of course.” With the last comment he looked over at Alex, who looked more excited than if you had just told him he had won four lotteries at once.

“Obviously you’ll sleep in my room. Where else would you go? The couch?” Alex walked over to Tom and rested his elbow on his shoulder. “You had better not complain about the state of the place. I’ve seen your room, and I don’t put up with hypocrites.” Pushing Alex’s arm off of him, Tom glared. “At least I have an excuse! My sister's stuff is all over the place. Most of the mess isn’t even mine!”

Rolling his eyes, Alex started walking up the stairs towards his room. “Sure. Since you’re here anyway, want to come up and figure out where you’ll sleep? Because you are not getting in my bed. I’ve seen how much you move around.”

Looking insulted, Tom ran after Alex. “I do not! You’re exaggerating. And if you keep being this annoying, I swear to God I’m going to only get pizza with anchovies.” The two of them kept walking towards the bedroom while bickering, while Jack stood at the bottom of the stairs and watched with a smile.

~~~~~~~~

After finding an air mattress (that looked as if it had definitely seen better days) for Tom to sleep on, Jack, Tom, and Alex began making their way to the pizza restaurant down the road from Jack and Alex's house. “You planning on actually trying something new this time?” joked Jack, poking Alex playfully. Joining in on the joke, Tom slung his arm around Alex’s shoulders and pulled him closer. “Maybe you’ll even try something,” – He glanced around mock-surreptitiously – “weird? Like pear.”

Jumping back as if he had been shocked, Alex drew a scandalised look across his face. Was he redder than he was before? Was he blushing? No, Tom must have imagined it. “Are you mad? Have you completely lost all sense of taste? Or are you just trying to poison me?” Tom laughed at this. “Oh, come on. Just because you’re boring doesn’t mean we all are.” He smirked at the irony of that statement. What was more boring than a spy, am I right?

“I’m not boring. I just have standards,” Alex proclaimed, half-serious, half not. “Guys, guys, come on. At least there is one thing we can all agree on. Dessert pizza is a monstrosity that should never have been invented,” intervened Jack, breaking up the joking fight between the two teens. “Come on, we’re nearly at the restaurant. Let’s just go in, and then we can discuss the merits of fruit on pizza in comfort,” Jack continued. 

The three of them walked into the restaurant, laughing while finding a place to sit. Jack noticed that Tom and Alex were sitting so close together that they were practically on top of each other, legs touching from hip to foot. She didn’t comment on this, just smiled when they ordered a pizza for the two of them to share.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Valentine's Day! Hope everyone has something to do today, and gets some overpriced chocolate. As always, all feedback is appreciated! (⺣◡⺣)♡*

After a healthy dinner of pizza (it had olives on top, of course it was healthy) the three of them began walking home, Alex and Tom so close their noses nearly touched, discussing something that they apparently didn’t want Jack to hear. In reality they were just talking about exams, but Alex had wanted an excuse to get a close look at Tom's face.

He was so … Alex didn't have a word to describe it. It was the same face that Alex had always known, the same constantly half-laughing eyes, the same quirk at the side of his mouth that meant he was up to something. What had changed about him? Or was it Alex himself who had changed? He wasn't sure.

"Hey, Earth to Alex. You still awake mate?" said Tom, snapping Alex out of his contemplation. "I was  _ saying _ , you need to apologise to Ayisha. I don't know what that clone thing said to her, but I'm pretty sure I saw her crying about it. I'm sure if you said sorry now she might forgive you. You might still have a chance with her!" He nudged against Alex, a smile on his face.

Was that a smile? He looked … sad. Like the smile was just for show, just for Alex's benefit. "Oh god, yeah. I completely forgot about that. The whole 'you nearly dying' thing completely put it out of my mind. But how would I do it?" Alex frowned and opened the front door of his house. "I can't really say 'Oh yeah, that was my clone, sorry. Can we be friends again?' She'll probably think I'm crazy."

Shrugging, Tom walked in past Alex. "You'll have to think of something. I'm not going to fix your relationship problems. Anyway, on to things more important than you. What movie should we watch?". With this Tom flopped down onto the sofa, and picked up the remote.

"I was thinking we could watch those samurai movies you've been avoiding," he suggested with a raise of his eyebrow. "Absolutely not. I would rather study for three hours and then go to bed than do that," complained Alex, throwing himself on the couch next to Tom. Tom looked away, and Alex thought he saw his ears going red from under his ever-present beanie. Probably just the cold. Nothing else.

Jack walked in. " _ I  _ was thinking, since the two of you are completely useless at deciding anything, I will decide what we watch. And since I have decided to torture the both of you endlessly, the thing I have decided to watch is Frozen. Now, Alex, move your ass so I can sit down." Groaning, Alex moved closer to Tom to give Jack space.

He was warm. And comforting. He smelled familiar, like vanilla and something else. Probably Lynx, or something similar. It was nice. Suddenly feeling incredibly tired, Alex laid his head against Tom's shoulder. He felt him shudder, like he had just felt a cold breeze. Nothing out of the ordinary. The sitting room was always sort of cold.

Grabbing the remote from Alex, Jack turned on the tv and scrolled through until she found Frozen. "Did you  _ record  _ it? How long have you been planning this?" Alex asked sleepily. "Oh, a very long time. And you had better be prepared to sing along to all the songs. I know you know the words." Tom gaped at Alex. "You  _ do _ ? I mean, I do too, but at least I have the excuse of a little sister. What's yours?"

Glaring at Tom, Alex sat up. "Shut up. I had the flu and wanted something mindless to watch, ok? And the music is actually pretty good." Chuckling, Tom looked at the screen, where the movie had already started. "Well, I won't tell anyone if you don't. But I do know I'm going to be way better at singing Elsa's parts than you.

Hitting Tom on the arm, Alex started paying more attention to the movie. "Absolutely not. I have a way better voice. You'd never be able to compete." Laughing, Jack joined in the argument. "You're both wrong.  _ I  _ am obviously the best singer in this house, and I'm going to prove it." With that, the three of them began singing along to the movie, laughing at how dreadful they sounded.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Once the movie had ended, Jack glanced at the clock above the mantelpiece. "Oh god, look at the time. You two have school tomorrow don't you?" Seeing the time, Tom and Alex jumped to their feet. "Oh hell. And here was I thinking I'd get more sleep at your house," joked Tom, already making his way to the bathroom to get ready for bed.

"You had better not use up all the hot water in the shower," commented Alex as he walked into his room. "And why didn't you bring any clothes or  _ anything?  _ How unprepared were you to stay over?" Alex could just hear the water starting to run in the bathroom. "I don't know! I was just going mental and needed to get out of the house," yelled Tom over the racket.

"Well you're going to need pyjamas at least. Want to borrow some of mine? You can go over to your house and get some of your own tomorrow," offered Alex, hoping Tom would accept. It felt like the closer Tom was to Alex, the more Alex could hope to forget anything bad had happened in the last few weeks. And it would be pretty cute. But that  _ totally  _ wasn't on his mind.

Bursting out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist, Tom looked more than a little frazzled. "Seriously? You wouldn't mind? I don't want them if it's a bother," he said, definitely blushing this time. Probably the fact he didn't actually have any clothes on and Jack was down the hall. Alex wished it was because of him. But he wasn't completely insane.

"Of course it's not a bother you moron. It's not like I only have one pair. And I'm not going to let you sleep in your clothes. I'm not a  _ monster _ ," said Alex, handing over a pair of pyjamas that looked like they had once been actual clothes, but had been grown out of. "Now get these on you. And stop dripping all over the carpet or Jack will kill you."

Blushing even harder, Tom grabbed the pyjamas out of Alex's hands and ran back into the bathroom. Definitely Jack then. Smirking, Alex walked back to his room to get into his own pyjamas. He hoped that if Tom wore his pyjamas enough they might smell like him. That would definitely help Alex sleep in them afterwards.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're back people! And this week we're actually getting something more than pining!(ˊᗜˋ) as always, comments and corrections are appreciated!

Standing with his back against the bathroom door, Tom buried his face into the pile of clothes Alex had just handed him. It smelled just like Alex, like earth and something metallic. God. Alex had  _ no right _ to make Tom feel this way.

Well, he couldn't just stand there freezing. And he shouldn't be rude and give these back, so . . . Tom started changing into the pyjamas. They were soft, the kind of soft that comes not from being soft fabric, but from being worn so many times they wore away. And they were  _ definitely  _ warmer than the towel.

Stepping out of the bathroom, Tom yelled down the hall at Alex. "I'm going to come into your room now! If you're naked, please stop it." With that, he walked into Alex's room, to find him desperately trying to blow up the air mattress Tom was going to be sleeping on. In theory.

"Uh, hi. This . . . doesn't seem to be working. Could you check if you can find where it's leaking?" gasped Alex, obviously out of breath from his blowing up attempts. Bending down, Tom noticed that Alex was staring at his chest. Making sure that the pyjamas fit. Yeah. That was it.

"I can't see anything here. Could you try and inflate it again? Maybe I'll be able to feel where it is," suggested Tom, intensely hoping that it could be fixed. If he couldn't sleep on this, where would he sleep? They'd probably send him home, and he couldn't bear that. He rather enjoyed getting more than three hours of sleep a night.

"Yeah, I'll try again," said Alex, puffing his cheeks as he tried to blow the mattress up. Tom giggled. "What's so funny?" said Alex, looking up. "Oh, nothing. Just the fact that you look like some kind of demented pufferfish," laughed Tom, barely holding back hysterics.

"Oh I'm getting you for that one," growled Alex, standing up. "And this time Jack isn't going to be there to save you." Tom gulped, and held up his cast covered arm for the second time in as many days. "Well, at least don't break my arm any more than it already is." Alex nodded, but didn't stop walking slowly towards Tom. He pounced.

And Tom didn't stop him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alex was lying on top of Tom. He could feel Tom's chest under him, feel his knee digging into Alex's side. And their faces were so close together. They were barely centimetres apart, foreheads pressed against each other. It reminded Alex of something. He just couldn't think what.

That was it. They had looked at each other like this after Tom had stopped Grief's clone. They had been hugging, this close, pure relief flowing through both of them. But this time it was better. This time it was more charged, like something more was going to happen. Until they heard something. Pop!

"Shit!" yelped Alex, pushing himself off of Tom. The mattress had popped completely. Obviously both of them falling on top of it had been the straw that broke the camel's back. "Hell. Really? Shit." Alex looked down at the deflated mattress, which definitely couldn't be slept on now.

He looked over at Tom. "What do you want to do now? I'm definitely not letting you sleep on the floor, so don't even suggest it." Looking bewildered, Tom looked around. "I could sleep on the couch I guess? I don't really mind. Just,  _ please  _ don't send me home. I'll lose my mind there, I swear." He shrugged and began picking up the blankets he had planned on putting on the mattress.

"No, wait, hang on. That's really not much better than the floor. You could. Sleep in my bed? Since it's just for one night, and we can find somewhere better tomorrow," stammered Alex, blushing a shade of red possibly never seen in nature before. Tom stopped in his tracks. "Hell no! I'm not taking your bed from you. I'll sleep on the couch." He stood defiantly, arms crossed. He definitely looked cute when he was angry.

"But that's not going to happen  _ either _ . I guess we could . . . share? My bed? If you don't mind obviously." Alex looked more embarrassed than he had before, if that was possible. "No, sorry, that was weird to suggest. We could -" suddenly Tom cut Alex off from the ramble he had just started. "Mate. I'll share with you. It's fine. Just don't push me off, ok?" 

With that, they looked at each other. "Well, after you," laughed Alex, waving a hand at his bed. "Oh! You're too kind," joined in Tom, putting on a high pitched voice. "Where would the world be without  _ polite  _ men like you." With that comment he climbed under the covers. "And turn off the light before you get in mate. I'm not getting up." Still chuckling, Alex switched off the light and slid in next to him. He was wonderfully, beautifully, warm.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, I'm going to be doing the Alex Rider ship week (running from the 22nd of March to the 28th) so watch out for that!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry the chapter is a bit shorter than usual! I've been a bit bogged down with work. But chapter length will be back to normal next week!

Tom could feel Alex. He could  _ feel  _ him. They were lying back to back, with Tom facing the wall. It was nice, but strangely unsettling. The unsettling thing was how  _ intimate  _ it felt. Even more so than when Alex had practically been on top of him, when he could see every green fleck in Alex's blue eyes. Then had felt like something electric. This felt like trust. Absolute trust.

And he could hear Alex  _ breathing. _ It definitely didn't sound healthy, not by any stretch of the imagination. It sounded like one long wheeze, like some kind of irreparable damage had been done to him, in a way that would never quite leave. Tom should probably ask him about that in the morning.

And then something terrifying happened. Terrifying in the most  _ perfect  _ way. Alex began rolling over. "Oh shit," whispered Tom softly, realising this would mean one of two things. Either Tom stayed where he was, and they started  _ spooning _ (not like that was a bad thing. It  _ definitely  _ wasn't), or he turned over and they started sleeping face to face. 

Oh god. Why was Tom so  _ useless  _ about this? It was only Alex. They'd been best friends since they were  _ two.  _ It wasn't like them sharing a bed was a new occurrence. But more and more recently it had felt like they weren't just "good friends". Or maybe that was just Tom projecting.

Sighing, Tom made his decision. If he faced Alex it couldn't be read romantically. Spooning could only be seen one way. And so, he started turning over as well, facing Alex. Oh boy. They were so close together Tom could see every single eyelash, every freckle and blemish on Alex's skin. This  _ definitely  _ wasn't much of an improvement on spooning.

As Tom stared, he was broken out of his reverie by Alex making a noise. Not a big one, but definitely not a happy one either. Just a slightly distressed . . . whimpering. Since when did Alex  _ whimper _ ? Suddenly worried, Tom was about to shake Alex when he started mumbling. "I've seen it all, I've seen it all, tonight." Was Alex singing? What was going on?

Propping himself up on his elbow, Tom grabbed Alex's shoulder. "Alex! Come on mate wake up." Alex suddenly started up, nearly hitting Tom in the nose as he did so. "Shit! Oh, sorry mate. Didn't mean to nearly get you like that." Alex seemed perfectly calm, as if he hadn't been sounding like a wounded puppy a few moments earlier.

Tom still had a serious look on his face. "Alex, what  _ was  _ that? You were singing or something. And before it sounded like you were about to start crying. What's going on?" Alex glanced away. "Oh, nothing. Just a nightmare. Nothing serious." Tom didn't buy it. "It's got something to do with that stupid thing MI6 made you do, doesn't it. That bastard Grief."

After Alex had saved Tom from the clone he'd told him some of the details about his "mission", so Tom had some idea of what had happened. "No, no, it wasn't him," hurried Alex, obviously trying to calm Tom down. "Well who was it then? And don't tell me it was just a nightmare, cause this definitely sounded serious." Tom Was sitting up now, and had folded his arms across his chest.

"Ok, ok, don't have a fit. It was MI6, ok? Their stupid training-" he suddenly cut himself off with a whimper, and before Tom could say anything else he started crying. "They- they took me. To this big warehouse. And when I wouldn't tell them about Point Blanc they tied me to a chair and-" Before Alex could continue, Tom pulled him into a hug. Alex laid his head on Tom's shoulder and shook, still crying quietly.

Tom started making soothing noises. "Shh, shh, it's ok. It's over now. You're home now." He started rubbing Alex's back in slow circles, trying to calm him down as best he could. "Has this happened before? You know, the whole 'flashback to MI6' thing." Slowly, Alex began to stop shaking. "Yeah, it's happened a few times. But like I said, it's not serious. I'm fine," insisted Alex.

"Yeah, no. I'm not taking that. Mate, you just woke up from a nightmare crying and shaking. Last time I checked that wasn't what happens when you're 'completely fine' ". Tom looked straight into Alex's eyes, trying his best to show just how much he cared. "Just, if you ever want to actually talk about it I'm here, ok?" Alex nodded, looking relieved that he didn't actually have to open up.

"Thanks Tom. I'll definitely keep that in mind." He smirked, and started to lie down again. As he did, Tom grabbed his hand. "You'd better actually sleep this time. I'll be mightily pissed off if you make me stay awake." Alex giggled at this, and pulled Tom down with him. "I will, don't worry."

As they both started to drift off again, Tom realised they hadn't actually stopped holding hands.


End file.
